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Saturday, January 24, 2015

It's been a while. But I think I have finally found a cool video to show you for Artsy Fartsy Friday. I LOVE to watch cooking shows!When I was little my mom and I watched the Galloping Gourmet( do you remember him?) He was a chef full of charisma and would make cooking look like fun. Now, I watch the cooking shows and think "Hey I can whip something like that up in no time flat! Rachel Ray makes it look so easy. and then what really happens?.... The dish actually involves me going to several stores to find the ingredients...and damn it all if they don't cost a FORTUNE! Then, the few minutes prep time actually takes hours and the whole kitchen looks like a bomb went off.source When My then Boyfriend (who is now the Hubster) was on leave from the Army I wanted to make him something special. I made stuffed Avocados filled with marinated Shrimp. The main course was Crab stuffed flounder and for dessert I made (from scratch I might add) a raspberry chocolate mousse cake. This home made dinner and its ingredients cost more than it would have if I had taken him to a restaurant and had someone else cook it! I still love cooking shows though and now with Cable TV there are whole channels dedicated to the culinary arts....which brings me to this weeks Art...It combines "cooking" with an Artistic twist...This stop motion film was made by Pes and you'll love it! Western Spaghetti Uploaded to You Tube by: PESfilmHave an Awesome Weekend and cook something Delish! Blessings, Joanne

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

She felt the pull to start a worship band for the Youth ministry in our church.

A few weeks ago she sang with four other youths who have dedicated their time to sing.

This shy girl who couldn't even sing in front of her family...sang in front of the whole congregation.

Without adults guiding them these kids have organized themselves and sang like angels.

I am a happy mom yeserie.

This is one of the songs they will be singing soon. It is my very favorite. Sung by Mercy Me~"Greater" It's one of those songs where you just want to get up and dance with JOY!!! It just makes me feel so happy!

Monday, January 12, 2015

Hi Everyone, It's me...the long lost blogger that can't seem to get her act together to post on my blog.

I hope all of you were greeted by the new year with a whole lot of happiness, health and strength...I write strength because it seems that we are called upon to be strong more and more. Whether it's our own sicknesses, or the weight of having to care for a family member....Maybe it's our jobs and the strength we need to go to them everyday and know that there will be challenges. Then there is our world....

all I can say is WHAT THE HELL?

Seriously, what in the world is happening to our world?

I can barely sit through the main stories in the news without cringing in disgust or fear.

Sometimes I talk to God and say "Lord we need a "Do over". We have made so many mistakes...can it be fixed?

There is so much hate and I wonder....why? why? why?

Have the whispers of evil been slowly taken in like some drug and now as evil yells we simply follow the sound?

A long time ago I worked in a neighborhood clothing store. The owners were a conservative Jewish family.

The store where I worked was owned by a man and his wife. Their Children worked there too as well as Grandparents who had lived through WW2, by literally being one step ahead of the Nazis.

One of their kids was my age and after a while (as people of the same age will do) we would strike up conversations. At first they were general type of topics. His parents didn't like when we would speak to each other and whenever they could they would separate us and keep us at opposite ends of the store. Maybe they thought I was a bad influence? Maybe they were afraid that we would be attracted to each other? I don't know.

On Fridays the parents would not come in and "J" and I could talk without the prying eyes of his parents. It was on those short Fridays ( the store would close early for the Sabbath) that we started to talk about almost everything under the sun. When business would slow down during the day we would talk about music and laugh at corny jokes. He would ask me about my faith and I would ask him about his. He would listen to me and never judge or criticize me. I would do the same.

We respected each other.

He appreciated me as a human being with a point of view that he could never get in his world. And I was able to appreciate him. Others who worked at the store couldn't figure us out. The Jewish workers would ask him why he liked talking to me...

"Isn't she strange? watch out all those Christians want to do is convert people" they would tell him

and co workers who were not Jewish would ask me the same questions..

"Isn't he strange? He could care less about you ya know...women mean nothing in their world..doesn't he tell you that he's right and your all wrong?"

J and I soon realized that even though he wore a Yarmulke, attended a Synagogue and kept Kosher..I attended Church and believe in Jesus and took Communion....we had the same dreams...the same fears...and most importantly a Love of God that was a gift that we took seriously.

Later, after I left that job I saw him walking down the street. We stopped and talked and he told me of his upcoming marriage to a girl he had taken on a date just once. He had never been alone with her..or for that matter even touched her hand.

This didn't shock me because he had told me that is how it was in his world. I wished him well and we both smiled and waved goodbye.

I wonder if he saw me now would he still be that opened minded kid I knew? Would I? Have the evil whispers infected our hearts as we have grown and have seen so much more than we did when we were 18? I'd like to think that we would stand and talk about life for a while, share pictures of our children and wish each other well.

In a world where empathy, sympathy seem to have disappeared...

Where violence is everywhere to the point where our schools feel no longer safe

Where people take advantage of our fears and tell us that violence is the only answer

Where we are mocked for loving God.

I hang onto the fact that there are people like "J" and so many others I have met from every walk of life. I cling to the knowledge that they feel the tug to do good in this world. To follow the golden rule and refuse to let those evil whispers derail them from a righteous path. They go out and experience this world and pray.